


I'm Her Hunter

by clizziem



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, And I am Number Four?, Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Maybe similar to The Host, Original Character(s), Pansexual Character, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 12:51:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16702954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clizziem/pseuds/clizziem
Summary: Working title to be honestSalem has been hunting aliens since he was five years old, kept under the terrifying and abusive thumb of his master, Sarabeth. But can one trip to Ames, Iowa change his life?I suck at summaries I'm sorry





	I'm Her Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for child abuse, language, and bullying. Nothing is that graphic, but you know, be careful.
> 
> Also, little bit of Spanish help: Luz (pronounced like 'lose'), hermano (brother), puta (bitch), Dios Mio (oh my god)
> 
> The ending is probably not very realistic I'm just a softie that couldn't let this kid not have a happy ending.

I was managing to tune out everything Sarabeth is saying until her stiletto nails dig into my shoulder. She hates kids (especially me), that’s probably why she grew her nails out and then sharpened them to a point. I tense and try to squirm away from the pinching pain.

“Are you even listening, Salem?” She hisses in my ear. I brush her hand off my shoulder and roll my eyes. 

“Stay invisible, don’t talk to anyone, scare them off if they pursue me, yada yada, I get the picture.” I mumble, pointedly staring out the window of the black SUV. Sarabeth and I are both in the back, a nameless, faceless driver up front.

“Well it’s good to know your attitude is still in tact. Maybe make sure it stays there once you get inside, it’ll scare them off. Not that one look at you wouldn’t do that.” Sarabeth says. I subconsciously trace my finger along the edge of soft, raised scar tissue that extends from behind my ear, across my cheek, down my neck and to my collarbone. My cheeks flush in embarrassment and shame. I know I’m ugly, I don’t need her to remind me.

“Yeah. I said I got it.” I snap back. Sarabeth seethes a little, then grips my arm and pulls me closer to her. Her nails pinch at my skin through my olive green sweatshirt and I wince. 

“You fuck this up, you get another one. Got that?” She whispers. I gulp, still not looking at her. 

“Yes, ma’am.” I whisper. Sarabeth lets me go and the car rolls to a stop in front of a high school. 

“You have one job and one job only. Don’t make me fuck you up even more than you’ve already made me.” She mutters. I roll my eyes again and open the car door. The sky is clear and the air cool and carrying the scent of farmland through the atmosphere. 

“Salem!” Sarabeth calls out. I sigh and turn around to face her. “Text me every hour, understand?”

“There are such things as classes. They don’t usually like it when you text during said classes.” I say. Sarabeth grinds her teeth. 

“Every. Hour.” She snaps, then slams the car door shut and it drives off, earning a couple honks from other cars leaving the lot. I roll my eyes and pull my hood up over my head. I stuff my hands into my sweatshirt pockets and stare down at the ground. 

I’ve done this hundreds of times. 

I walk into a new school. I text Sarabeth if I see anything. I leave and we’re in a new town the next day. 

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when a big, tall, most likely a jock brushes against my shoulder. 

“Oops, sorry, New Kid.” He laughs. I adjust my backpack strap and catch the gaze of a curly haired Latina girl. She sends a small smile my way and then disappears with her friends as the bell rings. 

 

There’s an art to being in classes that you are not a part of. Sarabeth always tries to time it so it’s early enough that people are still moving around their schedules but late enough that no one would notice a new kid in the corner. If it’s too late to do that, she’ll forge the documents needed to “enroll” me and I’ll just show up. I always sit in the back, keep my head down and do work I’ll never get credit for. 

I walk into a science classroom and dig around in my backpack for my ETRD (Extraterrestrial Radiation Detector) and turn it on as quietly as I can. This is my job. Watch the ETRD readings and determine how much ammo Sarabeth needs to bring in to rid the building of aliens. I keep my hood up, even though I know whoever this teacher is will make me put it down and then I’ll have to hear all the gasps and whispers about  _ ew what’s on his face _ . 

“Hey.” A soft voice says off to my right. I look up and see the girl from outside. She’s in a purple, loose fitting tank top with a floral design stitched into the neckline, blue jeans that fit tightly around her thighs. “Someone sitting here?” I shake my head, this is the one thing Sarabeth has never prepared me for. She sets her backpack down and leans toward me.

“Sooo you’re new here.” She says “What’s your name?”

“I’m Salem.” I say softly. She smiles brightly. 

“Salem. Where is that name from?”

“I-I think it’s Arabic.” I stammer. I don’t know why I said ‘I think’, I know it’s Arabic, my parents were from Saudi Arabia. “What’s your name?”

She chuckles a little and leans back in her seat. “I’m Luz.” She opens her mouth again to say more but an older, mostly bald, man in an ugly sweater vest starts droning about molecules and Avogadro's number and we fall silent. Everyone pulls notebooks and binders out of backpacks like they’re robots and starts taking notes.

The teacher does make me put my hood down. And I do hear the whispers. I run my hand through my shaggy dark hair, trying to hide my eyes.

About halfway through class, a folded piece of notebook paper pokes my elbow and I catch Luz smiling at her notebook. I pick up the paper and open it up. There’s a little message written on it. 

_ Meet me under the bleachers at lunch? _ I grin a little to myself, trying to ignore the voice in my head screaming about what Sarabeth would do if she found out I made a friend. 

If that’s even what this is. 

I’ve had kids pretend to like me just so they could hold me down and gawk at my scar.

_ “Jesus, just step on him if you have to.” The first boy, Erik maybe, laughs. Two weights land on my forearms and I shut my eyes, still trying to wiggle away. _

_ Another weight settles on my ankles and shoulder. “Let’s take a little look, shall we?” Possibly Erik whispers evilly. He grips my hair and throws my head against the dirty ground. I twist and try to muscle him off with all the strength my ten year old body has. _

_ “Ew! God, it’s hideous!” Erik laughs and angles my head up, probably so the guys above me can see.  _

_ “Shit,you survive a nuclear blast, ugly?” A voice above my head asks.  _

_ “Get off me!” I shriek, twisting away again. _

_ “Aw, we got what we wanted. Let the little monster go.” Erik says. All the weights leave my body at once and I scramble up to my feet and run away, tears rolling down my cheeks and messing up my vision. _

Sarabeth says that’s better than having someone actually want to eat lunch with me. Then I can’t get attached. 

I scribble an answer to Luz and send a sideways smile at her. 

_ Okay _

 

“Why do you look like you’re waiting for someone to attack you? Come sit down.” Luz giggles when I walk over to the bleachers. The sunlight makes the steel blindingly bright but underneath them is cool and comfortable. I decide against saying that I’m waiting for people to pop out of nowhere and grab me.

“I just assumed your friends would be here, too.” I mumble, wishing I sounded more eloquent. Luz scoffs. 

“Oh please, I don’t have any of those.” She says with an off look on her face. 

“I saw you with people outside of school this morning.” I say. Luz shrugs. 

“Yeah, I’m not friends with them. I sort of just stand there while they talk about boys and ‘fake bitches’. Maybe they needed a token minority for their friendship circle, I dunno. But they’re not my friends.” She drops a tupperware with some rice in it on the ground. “No one really seems to want to be my friend anyway.”

“Why not?” I ask, digging out a paper bag from my backpack. Sarabeth doesn’t usually pack a lunch for me, it’s usually just some crackers and fruit, but I’ve also noticed that if you just have a bag out and talk to people enough, they don’t notice you haven’t eaten anything. 

Luz giggles. “Your guess is as good as mine,  _ hermano _ .” She says and starts to eat her rice. We fall silent for a bit before I clear my throat and fiddle with the strings of my hoodie. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Why am I so damn insistent on being your friend?” Luz supplies. I feel my face flush and I look away, nodding slightly. 

“Yeah. That.”

“Like I said, I don’t have friends and it kind of looks like you might need one. I heard a lot of people coming up with conspiracy theories about your scar. I figured it was driving you crazy so I thought it’d be nice for you to have a friendly face around here. God knows there aren’t many around here. Am I talking a lot?” 

I chuckle and shake my head. “You’re fine. Thanks.”

Luz takes a sip out of her water bottle then her eyes go wide. “Mmm! You should come to the game tonight! I’m being dragged to it and the thought of sitting alone in these things,” She gestures to the bleachers above us. “Sounds dreadful. I can pick you up if you want.”

“No!” I say too loudly. “I mean, yes I’ll come but you don’t have to pick me up. I’ll meet you here.” I add too awkwardly. Luz raises an eyebrow at me, I pray she won’t start asking questions. I can’t answer them without getting beaten to a pulp. 

“Okay. Cool.” She says, slowly, but her smile returns. 

 

The rest of the day passes mostly uneventfully, but my ETRD starts to hum as I walk out the door to Sarabeth’s car. I take it out of my pocket and stare at the  _ Mild Radiation _ reading for a second. Then I stuff it back into my pocket and run to the car. Sarabeth doesn’t even look up from her phone as I sit down and buckle up. 

“So. What do you say?” She asks. I worry at my lip and stare out the window where I can see Luz getting onto a school bus. If I say I got a reading, I’ll have to leave. This is the first time I’ve ever felt like I may have found a friend. I know I’m not supposed to have those, but...I want to have one just once. “Well?” Sarabeth demands again. 

“I-I’m not sure.” I say. I hear her phone land in the cup holder on the door and Sarabeth sighs. 

“What do you mean, you’re not sure?” She asks, her voice deadly calm. 

“I got a mild radiation reading but I don’t know where it’s coming from. Whether it’s in the building or poisoning a person already.” It’s enough to stay another day and enough to not get me killed.

“I see.” Sarabeth says softly. “What would you suggest we do, Salem?”

“Stay another day, I’ll try to sniff it out.”

“Yes, but you see, that was what you were supposed to do today. You get distracted or something?” She asks. I gulp, not daring to say anything that might give Luz away. 

“N-No, ma’am.”

“Salem, who did you meet?”

“No one!”

“Then why do you need to stay another day?”

“Because it’s a big school and I only got the reading as I was leaving the building. I need more time to find where it’s coming from.” I say, trying not to raise my voice.

Sarabeth sighs again and adjusts her position a little. “Fine. One more day. That’s all you get, understand?” 

“Yes.”

“Good. You will report to the basement when we get back.”

My blood goes cold and all the marks in my back ache in union. “What! Why? Y-You said I could have another day, I did what you wanted!”

“Yes, you did. But you’re also slowing us down. How long have you been working for me, Salem?”

“Ten years.” I whisper.

“So you should be…”

“Pretty damn good at this.”

“Exactly. I don’t think you should be surprised that you’re getting this instruction.” She says. I wring my clammy hands together and try to steady my breathing. My entire body aches in terrified anticipation and my eyes sting in tears I can’t shed.

After a few more minutes of silence, the car stops at a small, square grey house. You can count the amount of windows on one hand, and the roof is flat and lifeless. Everywhere we go, this house follows us. It’s our base. Part of me wants to cower in the car like I used to when I was little but I watch my body carry itself up and out of the car and over to the house. I beg my mind to remain detached as I go downstairs to a large, masked man, sitting behind a desk (for some reason) but I return to my body as the man looks up at me. 

“Mistress send ya?” He asks, his voice distorted behind the mask, making him sound like a demon. I nod, my eyes watering and whole body trembling. “Damn, it’s been a while hasn’t it, Salem?” 

I don’t have it in me to respond as he gets up and grabs a switch from a wall. I watch him flick his wrist and a long, thin, red glowing beam turns the switch into an electric whip. Little bolts of lightning dance around the black cord. They don’t actually shock you, they’re very controlled. They’re only there to make it hurt more. Sarabeth’s alien side can be really monstrous.

“You remember how this works?” The man asks. I nod and shuffle over to the wall. I stand about a foot in front of it and grip the hem of my sweatshirt. Every muscle in my body freezes. I hear Sarabeth’s footsteps come down the stairs and she stands beside the masked man. 

“Please.” I whisper, not quite meeting her eyes. My voice trembles so much I’m surprised what I said was even audible. 

“Take it off, Salem!” She barks. I flinch and pull my shirt off over my head. I fall down to my knees and place my hands on the wall. Two chains slide out like snakes and wrap around my wrists and they pull my arms apart so my chest is just far enough from the wall that my face isn’t up against it.

“Any rules, Mistress?” The man asks. Sarabeth hums for a second. I shiver and squeeze my eyes shut, my stomach churning. If she doesn’t hurry up I may be sick.

“Five for his mother, five for his father, ten for his years of service. Maybe that will remind him why this is so important. Why we can’t stop because one little slut is nice to you. Yeah, don’t think I didn’t see you looking at that girl.” Sarabeth heads back up the stairs before calling back down. “Make him count! You don’t have to start over if he stops but make him count!”

I shut my eyes and wait. “Ready?” Masked Man asks. 

He doesn’t wait for me to answer. The first crack rips apart my skin, a tiny fire burning me to my spinal cord. “One.” I whisper.

Another crack and burn. “Louder!” The man shouts at me. I think he enjoys this a little too much.

“Two!” I scream back. He keeps whipping, I keep screaming until he stops for a second at the fifth one. 

“Well, there’s five for your fucking mom.” The man laughs. I wish I could imagine her face. I wish I could know that she wouldn’t let this happen to me. I wish I could call out for her instead of count how many times a whip cracks into my back. 

“Six.” I say, I don’t have enough energy to yell at him anymore. 

I wish I could all these things. But I can’t picture her face. I don’t know her name. I don’t know if she would let this happen to me. 

“Seven.”

“Eight.” 

“Nine.” 

“Ten.”

“And there’s five for your father.”

I don’t know what he looks like. I don’t know his name. I don’t know if he’d let this happen.

I don’t know anything about them. Just that they were from Saudi Arabia. 

I stop counting after fifteen. 

He yells at me to count.

All I can feel is blood running down my back. All I can hear is a roaring in my ears. 

My own blood takes over every single one of my senses. 

I guess he stops at some point. He comes over and taps the wall with the handle of the whip, steadily dripping blood. The chains slink back into the wall and I collapse onto my stomach, my temple scraping against the cement wall.

“You remember how this ends?” The man asks. I nod weakly and offer him my wrist. He kneels down next to me and takes out something that looks like a stamp. He presses it against the pale tan skin of my wrist and a wave of golden light runs through my veins and into my chest. The light halfway heals my wounds, leaving enough to hurt and bleed, but heals enough to ensure my life. I feel some energy seep back into my body and I sit up slowly. “Alright, back to your room.” He says and gets back up, heading back behind his desk. I grab my shirt and hoodie and shuffle back upstairs, down the hall, and shut my door as quietly as I can. I glance at the clock next to my bed. 3:00 pm. Luz said the game starts at seven. So I have about three and a half hours to figure out how to sneak out of the house. I fall onto my bed and bury my face in my pillow. I still haven’t put my sweatshirt back on but the air feels good against the pulsing hot pain thrumming through my back like the beat of a drum. It’s been awhile since I’ve been whipped like that. When I was younger it used to happen more often, back when I used to hesitate to shoot an alien or lie about a radiation reading to get away from wherever we were. I don’t think I’ve been whipped twenty times since I was like thirteen. 

I dig my fingers into the pillow and growl into the soft down. 

I don’t want to do this anymore. 

I hate not belonging anywhere.

I hate not having friends.

I hate not knowing any pop culture reference kids my age know like the back of their hands.

Sarabeth constantly tells me that I have a role in a war with no visible end in sight and that it would be dishonorable to abandon that role, but I never got the chance to say no. She was making me hunt for aliens since I should have been in kindergarten. She’s been trying to turn me into a stone cold hunter since I was five years old. Maybe it’s because she’s half Claninon alien, but she doesn’t seem to understand me when I say I’m lonely or that I want a normal life. Claninon aliens don’t feel the same way humans do. 

Maybe Sarabeth is just too Claninon to see that she’s slowly killing me. 

 

I elect for diving out my window into the bushes (which was probably misguided seeing as I still have open wounds) and running down the street (again: open wounds) at 6:30 to get to the game. I get some odd looks from people I saw during the day but I don’t have it in me to care. 

I catch Luz waiting with her “friends” outside the gates to the field. She smiles and waves at me, making a few blonde heads turn my way. 

“Lucy! You never said your friend was cute.” A girl says, bumping my arm. 

“How have I never seen you before?” Another says, her hand sliding down my elbow.

“Oh, you must be new here, huh?” Another one says and I feel her grab my ass. I scratch at my neck and stutter for a second, looking at Luz for help. 

“Okay! Guys, this is Salem, Salem this is Maddie, Kate, Taylor, and Reese.” She says, pointing at each girl in the tiny circle. “Are those trumpets? Better get in there.” Luz adds and drags me inside by my sleeve. 

“Did they call you Lucy?” I ask quietly as we sit in the third row. 

“I guess they think ‘Luz’ is not cute enough. Look, I don’t know, I told you they aren’t my friends.” 

“Does that upset you?” I ask. 

Luz sighs. “‘Luz’ means light in Spanish. My parents named me that to try to express what I mean to them. ‘Lucy’ just...takes that away.” She says. 

“I’m sorry.” I whisper. 

“It’s fine. I’m sorry they were all…” She makes a wiggling motion with her fingers. “Touching you and shit. You’d think they’ve never seen a man before.”

“It’s-”

“Don’t say it’s fine. They’re drunk already and it was making you uncomfortable, I could see you grimacing.”

I don’t mention that that’s from my back and not their hands on me.

Luz shakes her head. “Anyway, what are you?”

I blink. “Uh-human?” I ask.

Luz chuckles. “No, I mean are you gay, straight, bi, trans, whatever?”

“Do you normally ask people that?”

“I’m trying to make it a more common thing to ask people.” She says and gently nudges me. 

I smile and look down at my feet. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t care-boy, girl, whatever, I don’t care.” 

“Ah, so pansexual?” Luz asks. 

“I’ve never heard of that.” I say awkwardly. Luz smiles. 

“Well, it’s basically what you just said.”

“Ah. Then, yeah I guess. You?”

Luz smiles again. “Same as you. Don’t give a shit as long as there’s something there. Gave my parents a little heart attack at first.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, my parents are Super Catholic Mexicans, so when I first told them they were all ‘ _ Ay Dios mio  _ but God wants you with a man  _ ay que pasa _ ’ then they got over it.” 

I frown, a little montage of every time I screwed up even a little and got dragged down to the basement playing through my head. “Just like that?”

Luz shrugs. “They love God, but they love me more. So...freebie.” She says, shaking her hands a little. 

I chuckle a little bit and wring my hands together, trying to ignore the trickle of blood down my back. 

“What about you? What’s your family like?” Luz asks. I stammer for a second until I remember the little story Sarabeth has me tell people if they ever ask about my family.

“I-uh-I live with a foster mom.” I say. 

“Oh. You don’t have to answer this, but what happened to your parents?” Luz says. 

“No, no it’s fine. I never met them. They died or gave me up or whatever when I was a baby. I was in a group home for a while then Sarabeth took me in when I was five.” It’s not exactly a lie, I’ve never met my parents and Sarabeth did take me in when I was five, I just have no idea what happened in between. I just know it’s not true because Sarabeth told me to say it. 

“I’m sorry, that’s kind of awful. But Sarabeth must be good, right? You’ve been with her for, what, like ten years?”

“Yeah ten years.” I murmur, hearing her voice call me ugly and tell me I’m wasting her time from earlier today. The one lie I can’t bring myself to tell is that Sarabeth is good to me. Usually she’s fine, never kind but also rarely cruel. She’s just so focused on her job, and her job is good, what she does for humanity, hell the whole world, is good, but her hunter (me) tends to get neglected. I’m not allowed days off. I’m not allowed to tend to my needs whenever I need to. There’s always something greater than me on Sarabeth’s agenda. Something more important than the teenager she’s forced to drag around. 

“What does she do?” Luz asks. 

Well, that’s the one thing I’ve never been prepared to answer. I don’t get to make friends so no one ever digs around in my life like this. 

“Um, she’s a...I don’t know what to call it, but she goes around the country helping people figure out their geneology.” I say, because there’s some ad for something called Ancestory.com along the walls of the stadium. 

“Oh. That’s interesting. Does she work for 23andMe or something?” Luz asks. 

“Yeah!” I say, too excitedly. “That’s-That’s what she does.”

“And she brings you along each time?”

“She’s not married so there’s no one she can leave me with.”

Luz frowns a little but lets it go. As I say that I wonder if that sort of parenting would raise any red flags with whoever in God’s name is charge of foster care. 

We fall silent and a band comes out and starts to play something on the field. “What song is this?” I ask, just to change the subject. Also because I like the sound of the music, Sarabeth doesn’t let me listen to music. 

Luz laughs a little. “Ha, ha. Very funny.” She says and slowly looks over to me when she doesn’t hear me laugh. “Oh you’re serious. You haven’t heard ‘Moves Like Jagger’?”

I shake my head, not for the first time cursing Sarabeth for not allowing me to engage in popular culture.

“It’s a Maroon 5 song. I can show you the actual song after the game.” Luz says. 

 

When the game ends, Reese informs Luz that the group is going to “Hot Jake’s party”. Apparently Luz knows she’s not invited since she just tells them to have fun and stays seated. 

The field is empty. We’re the only two in the stands. The lights are out but the street life illuminates the night. 

“Do you need a ride home?” Luz asks suddenly after several moments of silence. 

“No, it’s fine I’ll just walk back.”

“Not sure how safe that is, but alright. My dad will be here before long so he can take you back if you want.”

“Thank you but I’ll be alright. I tend to scare more people than people scare me.” I say without really meaning to. Luz frowns.

“Your scar?”

I just nod. 

“How did you get it?” Luz asks quietly. I shiver, the curving line aching as if it were brand new. I stammer for a moment, trying to come up with a lie and reaching up to cover the mark. “You don’t have to tell me.” Luz says, sounding worried. 

“Sorry, it’s just...kind of a rough memory.” I say through my teeth. Luz nods and then there’s an artificial chirp and Luz checks her phone. 

“Ah, my dad’s here. You sure you don’t need a ride?” She asks. I shake my head.

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” I say. Luz nods and we walk down to the parking lot. 

“Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, Salem!” She says and jogs over to a beaten up green car. She gets in, waves out the window, and it drives away. I watch after the car for a second, feeling something I can’t quite put my finger on. 

“Well, I thought you’d never leave.” A voice says from behind me. I whip around and see Sarabeth leaning against the gate. “You really thought you could sneak out without me realizing it? Next time try locking your damn door.” She snaps and grabs my arm.

“How did you know where-”

“How many times do I have to tell you I know everything, Salem. However, it did grant me the opportunity to investigate the building. Don’t know how you didn’t notice, or maybe you did and that little slut distracted you-”

“Don’t call her that!” I snap, trying to pull my arm out of her grip. She tightens her grasp and her nails dig into my arm.

“But I found where the radiation was coming from. Unfortunately, it’s bigger than I thought. I’m going to have to use you as bait again, so I suppose you’re in luck. Now we have a real reason to stay here another day.”

“Would’ve been nice if you figured that out before you had me whipped.” I mutter. 

“Hush! Besides, you didn’t do your job, you deserved that and you know it.”

Something catches up to me. “Wait, bait? No! Not again, I told you I didn’t want to do that again!” I start pulling at my arm again, my heart pounding so hard I can hear it.

“I remember that, Salem. But desperate times justify desperate measures.”

“Last time I-”

“Yes, I said I remember what happened last time, Salem. But if you don’t do it, your little friend there could suffer. You want another life lost on your account?”

“Stop acting like I’ve killed people! I’m not the one who goes in and kills people with Extraterrestrial poisoning!”

Sarabeth slams me up against the side of a building and presses her forearm against my throat. 

“What is it going to take for you to realize that what I do is more important than you are? You couldn’t do what I do if your life depended on it. These creatures have taken countless lives, including your parents’. I’m trying to keep that number from growing. And you seem to be forgetting one teeny, tiny, little thing. I own you! You do what I say or you’re out on your own!”

“Maybe I don’t want a part of this anymore!”

“Then when you die you better have a damn good reason to tell your parents! Let me put it this way. You lure the aliens out, or I may make a little mistake and think your friend had some poisoning.” She says way too sweetly. 

“You wouldn’t.”

“Don’t test me Salem.” She hisses, digs her arm further into my windpipe, then harshly lets me go.

 

I sit in my room and stare at my phone. Luz put her number and address into it after lunch, and I bite my lip mulling over everything. Unbiddenly, I remember the last time I was used as bait for an alien. 

_ It speaks clearly in my head and I can feel it swirling in my body as if it were getting comfortable in my skin. _

_ “Oh yes, you’ll do just fine, little Salem.” It hisses. I can feel it picking through my brain and I slam my head against the wall, hoping it will just fall out of me. I look up at Sarabeth, my vision blurry and tinted red. “Ah, I see some turmoil in here, little one. I can use that, can’t I.” I feel the alien expand in my chest and my ribs struggle to contain it. One cracks open and I let out a roar I didn’t know I could make.  _

_ “Sarabeth!” I scream, crying but my tears sting. “Sarabeth get it out!” _

_ “Why would she help you, Salem? It says somewhere deep in here that she hates you.” The alien coos. I scream again and slam my entire body to the floor. _

_ “Get it out!” _

_ “Fight it!” Sarabeth yells back. _

_ “I-I can’t!” _

_ “Yes, little one. Give in.” _

_ “I have to do everything, don’t I?” Sarabeth grumbles and doses me in urganium liquid. It’s harmless to humans but poisonous to aliens. The thing inside me shrieks and scraps and claws its way out of me. I curl up into a ball, sobbing in pain and clutch my abdomen only to get poked with something sharp. I look down and see about a centimeter of bone sticking out of me.  _

_ “Sarabeth?” I say with a wobbly voice.  _

_ “Shut up, Salem.” She snaps as the alien is sucked into a vacuum like thing.  _

_ “Sarabeth my rib!” I cry, moving my hand. She looks down at me and hisses. _

_ “Oh shit. You’ve got more to worry about than that.” She says and quickly packs up her gear before picking me up. I put a hand on my chest and it comes away bloody.  _

_ “Sarabeth? What’s happening?” I ask, panicking. _

_ “Calm down, it must have scratched you on its way out. If we get back home quickly, you won’t die.” _

_ “What?” I shriek. _

_ “Jesus, calm down or you’ll make it worse.” _

I shiver and press my hand against the little star shaped scar on my ribcage, as if I’m trying to force the bone back in. 

I can’t go through that again. 

The alien that time was smaller and not as strong as the one Sarabeth wants me to bait this time. 

If I let her use me, I’ll die.

I need help. I need to go somewhere. To someone.

Finally I sigh, get up, lock my door, and jump out the window again. 

And run. 

 

It’s not that hard to guess which window is Luz’s. There’s a Maroon 5 poster in the window and what looks like an illuminated letter ‘L’. After an adventure of scaling the wall up to the roof, I gulp, shut my eyes, and knock on the window. A second later, a hairbrush wielding Luz appears at the window. She drops the hairbrush and opens the window. 

“Salem? What the hell are you doing? I could have...actually no I couldn’t have, never mind. What is it?” She whispers. 

“I need to talk to you.” I say, ignoring how my whole body is trembling in pain, fear, and cold.

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Luz sighs and looks behind her. “Fine. Give me one minute. Get off the roof and meet me out front.” I nod and set about scaling down the wall. I land too hard on the balls of my feet and wince on my way to sit on the sidewalk. Luz quietly comes out the door in a pair of sweatpants, sandals, a t-shirt with something called ‘Ravenclaw’ on it, and a sweater. 

“Okay, can you drive?” I ask. Luz raises an eyebrow.

“I mean I have a permit.”

“Good enough just...drive somewhere. Anywhere. Wherever you go to hide.” I say, probably too frantically. 

“Okay fine, but Salem. What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

“I promise I’ll explain as soon as we’re sitting somewhere private.”

 

Luz brings us to the parking lot of a beaten down gas station near some woods. She cuts the engine and sighs.

“Okay, tell me what’s happening.” She says, staring down at the steering wheel. I gulp and rub my wrist, staring at my feet.

“Fine. I-uh-I lied to you. A lot. Sarabeth is not my foster mom, she’s...kind of my master.”

“What?”

“Please, just let me explain then I’ll answer any questions you have.” I say, looking up at her. Luz nods and leans back. “Sarabeth answers calls about aliens. A while ago, some creatures invaded here from some planet millions of light years away. We don’t know much about them, just that they give off radiation and that’s how they spread. The radiation poisons people and places and will eventually destroy them. Sarabeth responds to rumors, calls from other Fighters, anything and goes in and eliminates the threat. Sometimes that means staging an accident that causes a building to burn down, sometimes that means killing poisoned people, sometimes that means trapping the alien in a box made of an element that’s poisonous to it. I’m her Hunter. I go into these places and see how much of a threat there is and report to Sarabeth what to do. I don’t go to school here. I don’t go to school anywhere. Sarabeth is half human, half another kind of alien species called Claninon that can control certain elements that can kill the aliens we hunt. I’ve never met my real parents, I think they were killed by the aliens, I’m probably going away after tomorrow, if I don’t die here. I’m sorry. I should have kept you away but no one’s ever actually wanted to be around me before and...it felt nice to have a friend for a little while. I-I’m sorry.” I finish out of breath and sit there, waiting for Luz to say something.

“Are you-are you human?” Luz asks. 

“Yes.”

“But you’re a slave? Or can you leave?”

“I probably could leave, but I don’t know where I’d go.”

“You sounded weird when I said Sarabeth’s good to you. Is she really? Or was that another lie?”

“She’s usually good. But…” I trail off, feeling my eyes burn with hot tears.

“But…?”

“Okay, forget it, she’s not good. She has me whipped if I don’t do my job well enough, calls me ugly, and guilts me with my parents’ deaths. She tells me never to make friends and that no one would ever want to because of this.” I say, gesturing to my scar. 

“Did she do that to you?” Luz asks softly, her eyes too caring. 

I take a shaky inhale, nodding numbly. “I was eight-” I try to start the story but my throat closes up. 

_ “Do you have any idea how many people could have died if I hadn’t stepped in?” Sarabeth snarls, digging a bright green blade into the skin behind my ear. “Do you have any idea how important this is?” _

_ “Yes!” I squeak, trying to squirm away from the knife. Sarabeth grabs my shoulder and slams my back against the wall, the chains tightening around my wrists.  _

_ “I think you need a reminder. A reminder of what happens when you don’t do your job.” She says softly.  _

_ “Sara, he’s just a kid.” The masked man says.  _

_ “He’s a kid with a big role in this war. He’s got to learn where his loyalties lie.” Sarabeth hisses back to the man.  _

_ Then the knife moves.  _

_ And my skin parts with its steady stroke. _

_ It feels like ice and fire all at once. _

_ I whimper and shut my eyes, not able to listen to whatever it is Sarabeth is saying. It stops at my cheek. I cringe at the feeling of blood running down my neck and pooling in the dip of my collarbone. _

_ “Listen, Salem. We’re the good guys here. You’re on the right side. Good guys don’t hesitate to eliminate the bad guys. This war has taken people from you, too.” The knife starts to move again. Down my cheek, stops at my jawline. “Do you understand, Salem?”  _

_ “Y-Yes ma’am.” I sob, my tears stinging the rip in my skin.  _

_ Sarabeth hums. “Good.”  _

_ Then she drags the blade down my neck, all the way to my collarbone. I shriek and fight against the chain to put pressure on the wound and I catch the masked man stepping forward.  _

_ “Relax, I didn’t cut his jugular. He’s fine. If you’re so worried, stamp him.” Sarabeth says and walks up the stairs. The chains release their hold on me and I fall to my knees, my hands pressing against the little river running down my neck.  _

Salem.

Salem.

“Salem!” Luz shakes my arm, eyes wide and scared. I blink and shiver back into reality.

“S-Sorry.”I murmur. 

“You alright?” Luz asks. I nod too many times and take a deep breath. “This is going to sound a lot meaner than I intend but I don’t know how else to ask it. Why does Sarabeth even need you if she’s the one that does the Ghostbusting?”

“The what?”

“Murdering and/or arson.”

“She can’t exactly waltz into a school without getting a lot of questions. She used to pretend to be a parent visiting the school but she didn’t have the freedom to just investigate that way. I, on the other hand, can sneak in and blend in easily.” 

“Ah. I guess that makes sense.” Luz says, then grips her hair and laughs hysterically. “How can I possibly say that makes sense nothing and everything you’ve just told me makes sense and I still think you’re hurt and why did you tell me this?”

I swallow the lump in my throat and look at my feet. “Maybe I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. I-I think I want your help.”

“How could I help?” Luz asks, not unkindly. 

“Sarabeth wants to use me as bait for the alien. Apparently it’s bigger and badder than she previously thought so she wants me to allow it to poison me so she can have better access to it. She’s done this before and…”

“Oh my god.”

“I nearly died. These things want to completely destroy and control their host, you have to fight them hard for...yourself.”

“You still haven’t said how I can help.” Luz whispers, giving me a sideways look.

“I-I think I don’t want to do this anymore. At least not for Sarabeth. I don’t know how you can help, but you’re the first person I’ve ever thought could.” We’re quiet for a second, then I bury my face in my hands.

“God, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.” I reach for the car door but Luz gently grabs my arm. 

“Salem, no, don’t be sorry. Stay here. Maybe we can figure out an alternate plan. Do you know how to get rid of the alien without burning down the building or being poisoned?”

“I-I know how, I’ve never done it, though. Sarabeth sometimes does it when the radiation isn’t that serious. She only brings me along to eliminate the alien every now and then.” I say.

“Okay. What do you need to do it?”

“An urganium gun and hletiverta net. Sarabeth has them locked in the weapons closet back at our house.”

“Great. An urganawhatsit and a….net. Let’s go.” Luz reaches for the car keys to start the engine again. I stare dumbly at her as she leans back in her seat and starts to drive out of the parking lot. 

“You’re going to help?”

“You asked me to right,  _ hermano? _ ” She says and winks. “Besides. Nothing ever happens here, it may have been the best day of my life when you told me there are aliens in my goddamn high school.” 

I laugh a little and grin at my lap. “We both will have no idea what we’re doing.”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Luz says, pointing a finger at me. “I play a lot of video games.”

“What?”

“Oh my god, I need to introduce you to so many things. Speaking of which.” She holds her phone in one hand and, apparently through muscle memory, pulls up a song. I take a second to recognize it, it’s the song from the game. “Moves Like Jagger.” She says and puts her phone down. 

“You say that as if we’ll have more time together.” I whisper.

“If you think even for a second I’m going to let you go back with Sarabeth, you’ve got another think coming. Let’s steal the shit, then go back to my house. I don’t want you near her.”

“And I don’t want her coming after you.”

“Oh please, even badass alien fighting  _ putas _ can’t get past Xfinity Home security.”

 

Luz parks about a block away from the house and we walk the rest of the way over. All the lights are off but the car’s in the driveway. I lead us around to the side of the house and through the side door. I’ve already warned Luz not to talk, we can’t make a sound. We creep over to the closet and I enter the code as quickly as I can to prevent anyone hearing the beeps. The door clicks open and I gently push it all the way to the wall. I chance a look over to Luz, she nods and we both step inside. Thankfully, Sarabeth has everything labelled and in its place. I grab the gun and hand it to Luz. She struggles a little with its weight but holds it close to her chest. I grab the net and nod towards the open door. Luz and I tip toe out and both release a breath. 

Then the door slams shut. 

“Wow, Salem, this is a new low. Even for you.” Sarabeth says, staring at Luz. “And you, you have more guts than I would have assumed.”

“Sarabeth, please-” 

“‘Please’ what? I fucking own you, Salem. You aren’t going anywhere.” She smirks. I grab the gun from Luz and hold it out at her. She just laughs. “You wouldn’t. You don’t have the guts, nor do you even know how it works. Look at you, you’re trembling like a leaf!” She chuckles to herself while I fight the tears trying to run down my cheeks. Then Sarabeth suddenly stops laughing and looks...worried. Scared even. Luz is holding a bottle towards her. 

“Know what this is,  _ puta _ ?” She asks. Sarabeth nods slowly. “You ever been pepper sprayed?” 

“No.” Sarabeth says softly. 

“I’ve heard it hurts. A lot. My  _ tia _ says you have to go to the hospital afterwards. You wanna go to the hospital?”

“No.” Sarabeth says again. 

“Alright then. We’re going to go. You’re gonna stay here. Maybe we’ll see you tomorrow while we do some Ghostbusting.”

“They aren’t ghosts.” Sarabeth mutters. Luz lightly pushes down on the bottle. A thin, weak spray of something slightly red shoots towards Sarabeth and slowly falls to the floor like snow.

“Don’t test me. Goodnight, Sarabeth.” Luz says and, not putting the bottle down, walks around her, dragging me by the sleeve, and goes out the way we came in. 

“Wow.” I whisper. Luz chuckles.

“ _ Ay, _ what have I got to lose? She’ll be gone before long, right?” She says. I smirk and nod, looking back at the house. “Hey, you good?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve just never seen anyone stand up to her before. And I’ve never tried to before tonight. And I couldn’t.”

“Hey, you still stood your ground. That’s not nothing.” Luz says as we get back in the car. “Besides, she’s scary as hell.”

“You didn't look scared.” I say as she starts up the car. Luz laughs.

“That’s just a little trick my parents taught me.” She says. “Well, it’s two in the morning, let’s go back to my house and get five hours of sleep.”

I yawn and nod. “Okay.”

 

Luz went back inside her home through the back door and told me to wait by her window. I scale back up the wall and wait a couple seconds until Luz opens the window. Her room is so different from mine I almost feel overwhelmed. The walls are a soft blue with posters of so many things I don’t understand pinned up. There’s a brown desk and light yellow dresser and a brightly colored skull lamp. The bed is messy, white and purple sheets and blankets in giant bundles on the mattress. Compared to my colorless, expressionless, and lifeless room back home, I feel like I’m seeing colors for the first time. I get ready to lay down on the white carpeted floor when Luz hops back into bed. 

“Get up here, silly.” She says, scooting over and patting the mattress. I hesitate for a second then, pull my jeans off and shrug my jacket down my arms and set them both on the desk chair. I’m in my underwear and a sweatshirt. 

“Is this okay?” I whisper. Luz nods and pats the mattress again.

“Of course. Just lay down.” She whispers back. I climb into her bed and lay on my back, stiff as a board. 

Then I see the photo on the ceiling. 

“Who is that?” I ask, pointing up. Luz lays down on her back and looks up.

“That’s my sister Miranda.” She says.

“Where is she?”

“She-uh-she was in the Marines. She was killed in combat about six years ago.”

“Oh, God, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright, you couldn’t have known. She was so...proud to fight for her country. They wanted to put her in this nonlethal job and she said no. She wanted to be where the danger was. Sometimes I’m mad at her for that. I put her picture up there so I can always remember she’s up in heaven now, watching over me. That she’s not really gone.” Luz whispers then she rests her head on my shoulder. “God, you’re tense.”

“I’ve never shared a bed before.”

“I understand,” Luz chuckles softly, then turns to look at me. “Just breathe a little, you’ll feel better.”

I take her advice, still staring up at the photo of her smiling, uniformed sister. I bite my lip and sigh.

“Do you think my mom and dad are up there?” I ask. I imagine faces I can’t even picture smiling down at me like Miranda smiles down at Luz.

“Of course they are.” Luz says and squeezes my hand. “I bet they’re looking out for you, loving you from afar.”

“Why do people die before you’re ready for them to?” I whisper. Luz sighs and readjusts a little. 

“My mom would say some bullshit about God’s plan but..I don’t think there’s a real answer to that question, Salem.”

“What’s God’s plan?” 

Luz inhales softly and I can feel her breath on my neck. “It means that when someone dies, it’s because it was their time. That God planned for them to die at that time.”

“That sounds heartless.” I murmur. “I don’t mean to insult your parents’ beliefs, but to me that sounds cruel.”

“It’s okay. Maybe it kind of is.”

“Why would someone take them away from me? Before I even knew them? Someone once told me that must mean it’s easier to bear but it’s not. It just makes it hurt more. I don’t know what they looked like, I don’t know if they loved me, I don’t even know their names and I can’t even begin to describe how much that hurts.” My voice cracks as I finish and I press my fists into my eyes. Luz wraps her arm around mine.

“I’m so sorry, Salem. Look, I don’t believe in that whole God’s plan stuff, but I do believe that ones who love us never really leave us. They’re still here. As long as you remember them, they’re still here.”

I smile and shut my eyes, a single tear rolling down my cheek. “That’s a nice thought.” I murmur. Luz chuckles then rolls onto her side. 

“Good night, Salem.” She mumbles. 

“Good night, Luz.” 

 

I wake up on my stomach with hands I don’t recognize on my back, spreading around something sticky and medicinal smelling. I crack my eyes open and see a latino man in a grey button down sitting next to me. I shout and scramble away, nearly falling off the bed.

Not my bed.

Not my room. 

I wait for the disorientation to pass and then hear urgent speaking in a language I don’t understand. I look up and see Luz. 

Luz. 

I slept at her house.

“Salem, it’s okay. This is my dad.” Luz says, appearing at my side. I nod stupidly and meet the man’s gaze.

“Sorry.” I mumble. 

“It’s alright,” He says. “I thought I should wait to tend to your back but Luz was quite insistent that you needed medical attention. I’m no doctor, but I did my best.” I whisper a thank you and stand up to put my pants back on. 

“I’m Rafael, by the way.” Luz’s father says. 

“Salem.” I say softly, quickly realizing that he probably already knew that. Luz pulls her backpack onto her shoulder and grins sweetly at her dad.

“Okay, we’re ready. See you later,  _ Papa. _ ” She says and grabs my sleeve. She drags me through her (lovely) house and out the front door. “Are we going to beat Sarabeth to the Ghostbusting?”

“Probably. She usually shows up after school ends. She tries to avoid hurting anyone who doesn’t need to be.”

Luz snorts. “Huh. Funny.”

“What is?”

“Just that she hurts you but apparently she avoids hurting innocent people.” 

“Oh. That’s different.” I mumble.

“It’s not but I have a feeling you’d rather not dwell on this topic.” Luz says with a sympathetic glance. I just nod, knowing nothing intelligent would come out of my mouth right now. We’re quiet for a bit. “You slept really deeply last night.” Luz says.

“Yeah?”

“My alarm went off and you didn’t wake up, then my dad came in and freaked out about there being a boy in my bed and you still didn’t wake up. Just out of curiosity, how long has it been since you’ve had a good night’s sleep?”

I shrug. “Probably too long.”

“By the way, why didn’t you tell me earlier about your back?”

I just shrug again. Luz shakes her head. 

“You’re crazy.” She whispers, but doesn’t sound mad. 

 

When we get to school, we follow the radiation reading until we get to where it’s strongest. The teacher’s lounge, which Luz deems as basically abandoned.

“No one ever goes in there. It’s a little gross.”

“Gross?”

“Well there was a lot of mold in there, then they got rid of it, now there’s centipedes or something, I don’t know this is an unfunded public school in Iowa.”

Luz dramatically throws the door open and instantly her shoulders droop. Mine go rigid. Sarabeth is standing on a table, her eyes wary. 

“Well, what do you know?” Luz mutters. 

“Listen, I know neither of you are happy about this, but this thing has grown. It will take all three of us to get rid of this.” Sarabeth says, meeting my eyes rather than Luz’s. I have never seen her look so...frightened. 

I pull the gun out of my backpack and hand the net to Luz. “Fine.” I say and get on the table with Sarabeth, Luz coming up to my other side. 

“You know, in ten years you have never been this much trouble.” Sarabeth says, dropping a device onto the floor. It springs into a ‘v’ shape and emits a light blue gas into the room.

“I want out and I actually like it here.” I hiss back. 

“Do you even know where you are? You’re in Ames, Iowa. This is some shitty under-funded public school. Besides, you only like it here because of...whatever this girl’s name is.”

“Luz Velasquez, lovely to make your formal acquaintance.” Luz says.

“Is that not enough of a reason? Why do I need more of a reason than that to want to leave you?” I ask.

“Why do you not want to play your part in this war?”

“I didn’t ask to be part of it! You just threw me into the role of soldier when I was five and never let me back out.”

“I like that I’m the only one who’s never done this before and I’m the only one who’s paying attention to the weird green steam stuff coming out of the ceiling.” Luz says. Sarabeth and I instantly look up and see the alien dancing down towards the gas Sarabeth put out. 

“Salem! Shoot!” Sarabeth snaps, cuffing the side of my head. I grimace and aim the urganium gun and curl my fingers over the trigger. I slowly pull the trigger and a loud boom echoes through the room. The alien starts to condense but then it starts to do something odd. Three long tendrils of green smoke snake across the floor and towards us. 

“Guys? What’s it doing?” Luz asks, a little panicked.

“Trying to take us down with it.” Sarabeth murmurs. “I told you this thing was worse than I thought. Back up!” She pushes us back, onto another table. I aim at the thing again, pull the trigger, and watch the tendrils retreat a little bit. Luz leaps over a table and throws the net over the alien. For a second, it seems to have stopped. The three smoky arms have completely retreated. Then it grows and grows, bursting the net and throwing Luz against the wall. She crumples down to the floor with a sickening crack and doesn’t get back up. 

“Luz!” I shout without meaning to. I get ready to shoot this fucking alien into oblivion but Sarabeth puts a hand on my arm.

“Don’t go crazy. Get the Irandye vacuum out of my bag.” She says and takes the gun from me. I scramble off the table and grab Sarabeth’s duffel bag. I dig around for a moment until I find a silver box with a bright purple glow. I slam it on the table and flip the on switch. A loud hiss starts to drag the alien towards the vacuum while Sarabeth shoots urganium at it. It’s starting to struggle. It can’t fight both urganium and irandye. Sarabeth tosses the urganium gun off to the side and pulls out a cone like weapon. She winds it up and a steady stream of nitrogen gas gets sucked into the alien, instantly turning it red. 

“One more shot should do it!” Sarabeth calls to me. Before I can do anything, there’s a urganium shot and the alien slides into the vacuum. I look down and see Luz on her knees with the gun in her hands. There’s a small line of blood dripping down her temple from her hairline. Sarabeth hums and goes to turn off the vacuum. I bend down and help Luz stand up.

“Are you alright?” I ask. 

Luz’s whole face lights up. “I just shot an alien into a box thingy, I’m fucking fantastic!” She squeals and throws her arms around my neck. I stagger back a little bit and hesitantly put my arms around her, hugging her close to me. 

“I would never be able to forgive myself if you got hurt.” I whisper. 

“I’m fine, Salem. I promise.” Luz says gently. 

“If you two are done, I think Salem and I need to talk.” Sarabeth snaps. I reluctantly let go of Luz and follow Sarabeth into the conjoined bathroom. 

“Where do you think you would even live if you stayed here? You’ve known that girl for two days it’s not like she’ll just invite you into her home.” Sarabeth says.

“I might!” Luz’s voice says from the other side of the door. 

“Do you mind?” Sarabeth shouts back. 

“Whatever.” Luz mumbles. 

“Well?” Sarabeth demands at me, arms spread. 

“I don’t know! I just don’t want to hunt anymore, you never gave me choice about whether or not I did this. You’ve made me hunt for these things while I had fevers, broken limbs, and beaten black and blue. I just...maybe someday I will come back to you and hunt again, but if I do, I want it to be my choice. I just want to be normal. Maybe for a while. Maybe forever. I want to actually go to a school I’m enrolled in, I want to make friends, I want to listen to music, I want to do homework and take tests and do something with my life other than being your little hunting slave. Besides, you don’t even like me! Why are you trying to keep me around?” I rant. Sarabeth rubs her lips together. 

“You’re right. I don’t like you.” She mutters. “And that’s fair. Wanting a choice. I chose to fight this battle when I was fifteen, maybe it’s only fair that you should get to choose to leave at fifteen.”

“Wait. Are you...letting me go?” I ask.

“Slow down, Salem. You still wouldn’t have anywhere to live.”

“Yes he would!” Luz says, throwing the door open. Sarabeth jumps and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Jesus Christ.” Sarabeth whispers. “What part of our interaction before didn’t convey that this is a private discussion?”

“When you went into a bathroom in the same room that I’m in.” Luz says without missing a beat. “Anyway, while I was eavesdropping I texted my cousin who wants to become a foster parent if she’d be willing to take you in, maybe not forever, but at least for a start, and she just said this.” Luz holds her phone out to Sarabeth.

Sarabeth looks at it for a second then rolls her eyes. “I don’t know Spanish.”

“Well it’s a kind of long reply but anyway the jist is yes.” Luz says. “Don’t worry, she does speak English.”

I raise an eyebrow at Sarabeth. She sighs and throws her hands up.

“Oh my God, fine. Just come back with me to get your shit.” Sarabeth says and walks around me and grabs her stuff. Luz wraps her arms around my stomach.

“She lives really close to my house, so we can still see each other.” Luz says softly. 

“How did you convince her to-” I break off. 

“I told her about the marks on your back and your scar and that Sarabeth did that to you and that was all it took to get her interested. Then I told her about the last two days and how I have a really good feeling about you and that was enough to convince her. She’s gonna love you. And you’ll love her, she’s wonderful.”

“What’s your good feeling? How did you get it?”

“You’re the first person I’ve ever called a friend. We’re both new to friendship and I think we both hit the jackpot.”

I smile and hug her again. “I think so, too.”

 

I don’t own a lot, so packing doesn’t take that long. As I stuff a jacket into a duffel bag I hear a knock on my door. I turn around and see Sarabeth leaning against the door frame. 

“Is this going to be one last effort to make me stay?” I ask. Sarabeth snorts. 

“No. I meant it when I said it seems fair that you get a choice in this part of your life at this age. I actually have something for you. Consider it a parting gift.” She says and holds out a rectangle wrapped in parchment paper.

“Even though you don’t like me?”

“Even though I don’t like you. You know, I’m not completely heartless. I do feel a little sentimental about seeing you go. I did raise you.” She says and I take the rectangle. I carefully unwrap the paper and see a picture frame with a photo inside. A woman in a red hijab and modest grey dress next to a man in a collarless light orange button down and blue pants. They have an arm around each other and are smiling happily up at me. 

There’s a baby between them, being held up by the arms that aren’t around each other. 

I take a second to realize they have the same skin color as me, the woman is a little lighter than I am and the man a little darker. We have the same eye color: dark, deep brown. The woman’s eye shape mirrors my own. 

“Are-Are they-?”

“Nasir and Duaa Al-Abbas and yes, they’re your parents. Also I stuck your birth certificate inside the frame.” Sarabeth says. 

“How did you get this?”

“They died from poisoning at their workplace. After I took care of the threat, and found out they had a child, I went to their house. That’s where I found you. I took that photo for some reason I can’t remember what.”

“So, you found me as a baby? Where did you find me?” I ask, finally looking up from the photo. Sarabeth nods.

“San Diego, California. I don’t know how long you were there on your own but you were screaming and crying and nearly starving, very dehydrated, and needed someone to care for you. So I did.” She says. 

“Where did they work?” I ask.

“I just told you I found you nearly dead and that’s what you want to know?” Sarabeth says, exasperated. I just nod and she sighs. “They were social workers, helping young adults and families who had recently immigrated get settled in their new home. They seemed like very kind people. They probably would have made good parents, too. Your nursery was full of children’s books and baby toys and CDs of Arabic lullabies. You know, typical gag-reflex-inducing baby shit.” 

I scoff and look back down at the photo, running my fingers across the frame. “Did you actually know them?” 

“No, just investigated their deaths. Why, were you expecting some heartfelt explanation that I was their friend and took you in out of moral responsibility?”

“Not exactly.” I whisper, then look back up at her. “Thank you.” 

“Whatever. I figured if I’m never going to see you again we might as well end on a better note than your friend holding a bottle of pepper spray at me.” Sarabeth says. 

“I may come back.” I murmur. 

Sarabeth scoffs. “No you won’t. Kids like you don’t come back to people like me and people like me don’t bother with the kids like you after they’ve left. Consider it a nice little symbiotic relationship.”

“A what?”

“God, how many biology classrooms have you been to and not one of them talked about symbiosis while you were there?” She says and pats my shoulder. “Hurry up I think your ride is out there.”

I look out the window and see Luz and Rafael waiting in the car. I feel a smile crack across my face and I haphazardly throw the rest of my stuff in the bag and rush out of my room. Sarabeth is waiting by the door. 

“Bye, Salem.” She says. She holds her hand out for me to shake but I lean in and give her an awkward hug instead. “Salem? What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’d feel wrong if I didn’t do that.” I say and pull away. Sarabeth smirks and ruffles my hair.

“Okay, weirdo. Have a good life.” She says and opens the door. I fight every fiber in my being to not bolt out and run to Luz as I walk slowly to the car. 

Then Sarabeth shuts the door and I stop caring.

I run over to the car and Luz leans over her seat and opens the door. “Alright,  _ hermano _ . The plan for now is to go back to my house then Marcela will stop by for dinner and meet you and…” Luz keeps talking but I can’t seem to focus. I hug the photograph of my mom and dad to my chest and shut my eyes. My heart is fluttering and I feel tears of joy burning my eyelids because this. 

This is all I wanted. 

In the backseat of a beaten up car, in a city surrounded by a lot of nothing, I finally feel like I belong. 

Like I’m wanted.

Like I'm home.

 


End file.
